Fake organ transplant NOC case: SMS Hospital Surgeon suspended

Jaipur: A senior professor of surgery at the Sawai Man Singh (SMS) Government Hospital has been suspended by the Rajasthan government in connection with a case involving the issuance of a fake No Objection Certificate (NOC) for organ transplantation, officials said. 

Dr Rajendra Bagdi was suspended and show cause notice issued to him under service rules, Rajasthan Health Minister Gajendra Singh Khinvsar told reporters here.

He said that notices were also issued to Dr Achal Sharma and Dr Rajeev Bagarhatta, who were removed from their posts of SMS hospital superintendent and SMS medical college principal, respectively, earlier this month, reports news agency PTI.

Also Read:Fortis Hospital Nephrologist, Urologist arrested in organ transplant NOC forgery case

Sharma and Bagarhatta were removed for not holding meetings of the state authorisation committee that issues no-objection certificates (NOC), the officials said.

The action was taken following the submission of an inquiry report on the fake NOC case to the government. The inquiry committee also discovered 269 instances of transplantations where the donor and recipient were not close relatives. Furthermore, it was found that 171 transplants involving foreign citizens were conducted in four private hospitals.  

Khinvsar said Bagdi, senior professor of surgery at the SMS hospital, was appointed coordinator of the state authorisation committee in April 2022. Meeting notices were found to be issued under his signature but the date and time of the meeting were not mentioned, the minister said.

According to a PTI report,"All these facts show that Dr Rajendra Bagdi was fully aware of the continuous receipt of applications for NOC. Despite this, meetings were not held and Dr Bagdi is primarily responsible for the meetings not being organised," he said.

The case came to light in an inquiry report submitted to the government on the basis of which Bagdi was suspended and notices were issued, Khinvsar said .

He said that there was gross negligence and irregularities at various levels in the process related to human organ transplantation from 2020 to 2023.

"Irregularities and fraud have come to light since the time Dr Sudhir Bhandari was the principal and controller of the SMS Medical College. Complaints in this regard were also received from other states," he said.

Bhandari, who was the vice chancellor of the Rajasthan University of Health Sciences (RUHS), resigned from his post after the government took action against Sharma and Bagarhatta.

He was the chairman of the steering committee constituted for 'State Organ and Tissue Transplant Organization' (SOTO).

The health minister accused him of doing several irregularities during the Congress' tenure in Rajasthan.

He alleged that Bhandari did not take any action to nominate the representatives of the state government as per the guidelines of the national organ transplant programme in the composition of the steering committee of SOTO formed during his tenure as the SMS Medical College principal.

"This entire situation shows that after becoming the vice chancellor of RUHS, Dr Bhandari continued to dominate the work of SOTO," he said.

An Anti-Corruption Bureau team had previously arrested three people on April 1 in connection with the issuance of fake NOCs for organ transplants in exchange for money. Consequently, the organ transplant licenses of Fortis Hospital, EHCC Hospital, and Manipal Hospital were suspended for violating regulations.

Police investigations are ongoing against all three hospitals.